Photos and the story

William D. Porter

Class	Fletcher class
Type	Destroyer (DD)
Hull	DD-579
Launched	1942-09-27
Commissioned	1943-07-06
Fate	Sunk. 10 June 1945
Armament (class)	Five single 5-inch guns, two funnels, and two sets of torpedo tubes.
Command	Walter, Wilfred Aves Captain, 6 July 1943 – 14 November 1943 Keyes, Charles Melville Captain, 14 November 1943 – 10 June 1945

Laid down, displacement, length, beam, draft, speed, and complement are not stored for each hull, so this table leaves them out.

The armament line is the class drawing, not a measurement of this hull.

USS William D. Porter (DD-579) was a Fletcher-class destroyer of the United States Navy. She was launched on 27 September 1942 and commissioned on 6 July 1943.

Wilfred Aves Walter was her captain from the day she entered commission. He held that post through the summer and into the autumn, and left it on 14 November 1943.

Charles Melville Keyes relieved Walter on 14 November 1943. He remained captain for the rest of the ship's life, a command that ran without a break until 10 June 1945.

On 1 April 1945 she was at Okinawa. That is the battle named for her, and the same service carries through to the day she was lost.

William D. Porter was sunk on 10 June 1945. Keyes was still her captain when she went down, and the hull's career ended with that sinking.

The pictures on this page are the originals.